Gartner Earnings: Will Shareholders Accept This?

Gartner Inc. (NYSE:IT) reported its results for the third quarter. Gartner is an information technology research and advisory company, which offers independent and objective research and analysis on the information technology, computer hardware, software, communications and related technology industries.

Earnings season is back and more important than ever. Get our newest CHEAT SHEET stock picks now

Gartner Inc. Earnings Cheat Sheet

Results: Net income for Gartner Inc. rose to $31.4 million (33 cents per share) vs. $30.5 million (31 cents per share) in the same quarter a year earlier. This marks a rise of 3% from the year-earlier quarter.

Revenue: Rose 8.3% to $374.4 million from the year-earlier quarter.

Actual vs. Wall St. Expectations: Gartner Inc. reported adjusted net income of 35 cents per share. By that measure, the company beat the mean estimate of 34 cents per share. It beat the average revenue estimate of $364.4 million.

Quoting Management: Gene Hall, Gartner’s chief executive officer, commented, “We continued our trend of delivering consistent, double-digit growth in the third quarter. Revenue, contract value, Normalized EBITDA and EPS were again consistent with our long-term expectations. The increases in our revenue and contract value, in addition to maintaining key operating metrics such as client retention at or near all-time highs, illustrate both the strong value we provide our clients and the sizeable market opportunity for our services. As we look ahead to the final quarter of 2012, we remain excited about the opportunity we see in the market and expect to deliver another year of double-digit growth as measured by our key business metrics.”

Key Stats:

The company has now seen its net income increase for three consecutive quarters. In the second quarter, net income rose 28.7% and in the first quarter, the figure rose 17.2%.

Revenue has risen for the last four quarters. Revenue increased 8.7% to $397.5 million in the second quarter. The figure rose 12% in the first quarter from the year earlier and climbed 11.9% in the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year from the year-ago quarter.

The company has now topped analyst estimates for the last three quarters. It beat the mark by 4 cents in the second quarter and by one cent in the first quarter.

Looking Forward: Analysts appear increasingly optimistic about the company’s results for the next quarter. The average estimate for the fourth quarter has moved up from 59 cents a share to 60 cents over the last ninety days. The average estimate hasn’t changed from $1.74 per share for the fiscal year.

Stocks with improving earnings metrics are worthy of your extra attention. In fact, “E = Earnings Are Increasing Quarter-Over-Quarter” is a core component of our CHEAT SHEET investing framework for this very reason. Don’t waste another minute — click here and get our CHEAT SHEET stock picks now.

(Company fundamentals provided by Xignite Financials. Earnings estimates provided by Zacks)

Don’t Miss These Additional Hot Stories:

Our 20-page proprietary analysis of Apple’s stock is ready. Click here and to get your Cheat Sheet report now.

Will Sirius’s Stock Still Be a Buy After the Buyout?

Is Barrick Gold a Buy After Earnings?